BAY AREA DATELINES

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, June 17, 1999

AH: Man abandons car, leaps off bridge San Francisco A man believed to be from San Pablo abandoned his car on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge Thursday morning and dove over the railing.

A Coast Guard cutter and helicopter searched the waters and just east of Treasure Island for most of the morning without finding his body.

CHP spokesman Shawn Chase said the man, in his late 30s, stopped his 1987 tan Mercedes Benz on the bridge about 8:30 a.m. The man got out and reached into the back seat, and then opened up the hood of his car as if it were disabled, Chase said.

Witnesses said he scribbled something on a piece of paper, then ran to the railing and dove over.